The blog of a romance novelist and poet. Semi-nomadic between England and France, a curious curtsey to cuisine and country.

Wednesday, 7 May 2014

Shelter. A Poem By Oscar Sparrow

ShelterA ledge A gap A holeA chance A crack A slotA have or not A home.A nest A den A boxA street A cell A plotA have or notA home.My partner Oscar Sparrow (the poet) no longer blogs or slogs the internet trail. His pencil still has lead and so I'm delighted to air a small poem about the social issue of housing. He just wanted to put the idea of HOME out there. (He didn't want me to explain that the capital A is used to create the idea roofs or tepees).

Give me shelter and I will be your morning song

The concept of home is so central to our human sense of self and security. Governments mouth empty phrases about young folk, values, the future and self esteem. Yet, a home is beyond most youngsters trying to set out. It is a market where our leaders cannot tread and the haves squeeze rent-juice out of the have-nots so that they can neverever ever have what the landlords (and our millionaire leaders) have.....A home.What is government for? I'm sure some would say it was to clear the path for the operation of profit making markets and then stand back. Perhaps this is the rule of Nature - the rapacious predators at the top of the food chain pull down and gorge on the flesh of the prey species, inevitably those who are weaker. Yet - even indifferent Nature allows a blown seed to find some fissure. Young pigeons cling to a girder above a street near my local bakery. Callous Nature shrugs yet still applauds a homemaker. Maybe Nature is also indifferent to markets.......Maybe there is a bigger home truth and pitiless capitalism is not the ultimate super-symmetry of the sub atomic universe? Could such a heresy be true? Is the stone face of greed not the portrait of perfect beauty? Do we deny our young people something that is fundamental to our conscious existence? Tell me - who is not worthy of an affordable home? Who? Who?And why? Why?Emma Thinx: Home is where the start is.